Almost Perfect
by ItsPatch
Summary: Alma and Daryl was never even slightly alike, but I guess opposites really do attract. Alma being the calm, happy-go-lucky people pleaser with everyones best intrest in her heart and Daryl being a hothead with an allergy to people and anger, social and family issues Starts pre-season 1 (kinda pre-ZA au) but will work it's way through the seasons eventually.
1. Prolog

Alma walked through the harsh winter weather, pulling her coat closer to her body as she did. The smile, that never seemed to leave her lips, greeted whoever decided to look her way. The nova scotia duck tolling retriever that her mother and father had gotten her happily said hello to passersby as well.

She fumbled with the key to the café but managed to somewhat gracefully get the door open. The inside was decorated with a homely feel to it, with big comfy armchairs and couches, pillows everywhere, dimmed lights and a permanent smell of cinnamon and chocolate.

Alma sighed in content as she started her morning routine. She baked some cupcakes and cookies and a carrot cake or two, then she brought some fresh coffee to Clyde (the homeless man who lived in the alleyway just by the café), then she cleaned off the counter and she fluffed the pillows and took out some blankets. Finally, she let Baxter out into the main area and flipped the sign in the window to open.

The day was like most other days, and Alma was happy. But then again she mostly was. Around noon, when the breakfast rush had subsided, the bell chimed from above the door. Alma didn't recognize the man that walked in, but he was probably just a few years older than her. He looked like he wasn't having the best of days.

"Good afternoon, sir! How may I help you today?" she asked leaning over the counter.

The man grunted and chewed on his thump for a while before answering.

"I look like a damn 'sir' to ya?" he mumbled. Now, most people would have thought him to be rude or uncivilized or maybe even kind of 'bad boy' struck, but Alma just kept her head high.

"Well then ma'am, I'm sorry to have mistaken," she teased lightly before her face dropped to concerned "Rough day?"

The man looked like he might just up and leave, his whole body tense and eyes hard. The silence was pretty thick, even though only one of them was bothered by that.

Alma stood up and left to the back room, the man's eyes not leaving her body until she rounded the corner. Not even ten minutes later she came back out, with hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies. She made herself comfortable in one of the armchairs that were located in front of the wood counter and called over Baxter to lay on the floor by the tired man's feet while she pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Alma Kirsten DiAngelo at your service, ready to listen to your problems and smother them with calories" she exclaimed, taking a dramatic sip of her coco and grinning mischievously.

It did take the man some time to reply but Alma could see the slight amusement behind his guarded eyes.

"M'name's Daryl. Daryl Dixon"


	2. Chapter 1

Since that day Daryl would try to go to Alma's café as often as he possibly could, which wasn't necessarily all that often, but still often enough for Alma to take quite the liking to him.

Alma learned that Daryl had a lot of baggage, and after a lot of calm encouraging and close to zero pressuring he had actually let her in to his little fort. And contrary to Daryls beliefs the young DiAngelo didn't run away. She didn't even pity him. She just quieted down for a minute before slowly nodding and continuing onto the next topic of discussion. And for that he would be forever grateful because it was at that point that he knew how much he respected the petite girl.

Weeks of acquaintance-ship turned into months of friendship and finally a year of some intense crushing on each other. Alma could almost immediately identify the emotion when it ruptured in her chest after knowing the handsome redneck for about 182 days (which Alma knew for sure due to her trusty journal she so religiously wrote in whenever something happens).

Daryl however wasn't sure what was going on, being in tune with his emotions weren't really something he had mastered after all. But as time went on he found himself almost being pulled toward Alma, but instead of feeling like a moth drawn to a flame, he kinda felt like a cat drawn to its pray. Whenever he was around the overly kind woman, the one who smiled at strangers and offered her aid to people that most people would either run away from or spit at, he felt like a monster. How could he, the useless younger son of an alcoholic father and a criminal brother ever think it was fine to take up so much of her time.

One sunny day in the middle of July, a year and a half after their initial meeting, Daryl was left to deal with his feelings, weather he wanted to or not.

Alma was waiting outside of the café in white ripped shorts, a flowy blue tank top, aviator sunglasses and light colored vans. Baxter was standing patiently by her side as she was smiling and humming. Daryl approached her cautiously, not the least bit calmed by the innocent smile she threw his way.

"The hell you doin' outside the café, ain't it a week day?" Daryl questioned, eyeing her casual attire. It was quite the change from the multiple variations of white long-sleeved shirts and black pants (or maybe the occasional black skirt).

"WEEEEE," Alma said, animatedly motioning between the two of them before she grabbed ahold of his arm, pulling him towards the bus stop, "are going to the zoo!"

Daryl stiffened up when she touched him but gradually relaxed under her touch. Baxter walked on Daryls other side, occasionally licking his hand, to which Daryl responded by momentarily moving his hand away before giving up when he noticed the hurt puppy eyes the toller got, not knowing what he did wrong.

They stopped and stood wordlessly, Alma still holding onto his arm, waiting for the bus that would take them from the outskirts to Zoo Atlanta.

"Why're you going to tha zoo? I mean…why're you going with…." before Daryl could finish Alma turned her head up towards him and smiled.

"With you?" she guessed, cocking her head to the left.

Daryl only nodded, looking at his torn up boots.

Alma giggled and squeezed his arm lightly.

"We are friends, right?" Daryl nods, still looking at the ground with great interest. "And friends do stuff together. We only meet at the café. Don't get me wrong, I love our little..." she took a small pause "…breakfast slash lunch slash dinner slash coffee dates but we have known each other for over a year and never been out to do anything! And I know you told me you sold some of that meat you got from the last trip you took and so I thought maybe you would want to go out for the day! Was I wrong?" she asked, now almost worried that she had crossed some sort of unspoken boundary.

Unfortunate for her, Daryl were still stuck on the word 'dates'. He felt like if she had been anyone else, he would have told them to fuck off and shoved her off of him. But coming from her, the words and actions nearly made him stutter.

Daryl could feel her inquisitive eyes on him and guessed that he had somehow missed the question. So he stubbornly pushed down the flutter from somewhere deep inside of him and turned his head to the side, muttering a 'whatever'.

And no matter how bitter he would have seemed to everyone else, Alma once again squeezed his arm and happily turned back to watch the passersby.

When they got off the bus Daryl realized that they were a fairly long walk away from the zoo, but Alma appeared to know where she was going. Baxter was just a few paces ahead, obviously also in on the plan. Daryl huffed out a breath, feeling irrationally left out.

They stopped in front of a big red house with white house-corners. The toller ran up towards the porch and started barking, alerting the older couple who seemed to be living there. The young Dixon stopped and looked down at Alma with an uncertain expression.

Alma smiled widely and pulled him with her towards the duo only letting him go to show the pair some love in the form of bear-hugs and kisses on both of their cheeks.

"Daryl, this is Mable and Davide DiAngelo, the creators of the most beautiful work of art in Atlanta!" Alma said gesturing toward her parents and then herself taking a light bow before releasing another giggle. Mable shook her head while looking lovingly at her not-so-little girl. Davide's eyes however where stuck on Daryl, not judging him, but most definitely studying him.

"And mother, papa, this is the one and only hunter extraordinaire, and one of my best peripheries friend Daryl Dixon!" Alma exclaimed, reclaiming her place next to him and smiling brightly.

Her mother quickly enveloped him in a tight hug, making him stiffen up, but he was too busy trying his best not to offend anyone to react as he usually would.

"Ahhh, hallo Dachyl, you seem like a real….ahh…boy from a farm!" Almas father said happily in a broad accent, grabbing Daryls hand with his right one and patting his shoulder with the left one.

"Country-boy papa, it's called being a country-boy" shouted a voice from inside the house.

"Yes, yes, yes." Davide said, nodding his head.

"Well, we will keep a close eye on little Baxter 'til next week if that's alright with you Queenie, Julian wants to bring him to the mountains over the upcoming weekend!" Maple said, brushing her thumb over her daughters' cheek. Alma nodded her head happily.

Before leaving she shouted a 'LOVE YOU' into the house earning a 'yeah you too' from who Daryl deduced to be Julian.

The rest of the day passed by swimmingly, they went to the zoo, ate some food and watched a few of the shows. But mostly they just strolled around the different enclosures. Turns out Alma holds a lot of information about a lot of unnecessary things.

In the end the young woman actually managed to get Daryl on the carousel, though it took a lot of whining and ego-stroking to convince him.

On the carousel is where he realized. It was like he had suddenly been doused in cold water. At the time he probably wouldn't have called it love, but one thing he knew for sure was that he somehow didn't want her to not be around him.

Daryl was so lost in this fact that he hadn't noticed the ride stop, and he hadn't noticed her stand right next to him looking up with curious eyes. He was also so lost in this new revelation of emotions that he hadn't noticed his own actions until his lips were already firmly planted on hers.


	3. Chapter 2

The years after that sped by, and before long they'd been dating for almost 4 years.

The wooden floor of the small cabin they now called home creaked more than Alma would like, especially when your long-term boyfriend was a hunter who insisted on leaving at the crack of dawn.

"Could you please walk quieter Dar-Bear?" she mumbled into her pillow pulling the comforter closer to her face. She heard Daryl scoff at the nickname, which he had adamantly denied liking, though Alma was almost 97% sure that as long as she was the only one saying it he really didn't care all that much.

"Can't ya jus' sleep heavier?" he threw back sarcastically.

Alma made a noise into her pillow and rolled over to Daryls side of the bed. Even if you didn't really know the pair you could easily tell who slept on which side. The table on the right hand side held a buck-knife, a lamp, two books (one about wildlife and the other a novel about faith and karma or something like that) and of course a picture frame with a photo of Daryl and Alma at Julians wedding. He always thought that red complimented her well and the long sundress she had worn did just that. Daryl had borrowed a white dress-shirt that was slightly too big for him and he had second-hand bought a light colored tie that Alma insisted she could dye red. His pants and boots where the same once he used for casual days when he wasn't hunting but the DiAngelos had maintained that he looked 'handsome' anyways.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Alma yawned out, looking up at him with lazy eyes. If he hadn't promised P.J that he wouldn't bail on him for the fifth time in a row he might have jumped back into bed to say a proper goodbye, but their goodbyes never really were goodbyes. And those same goodbyes were usually the reason he bailed on his friends.

Her side-table were an explosion of different things and paraphernalia that combined showed her entire personality. A colorful dreamcatcher hung above the small 'boho-lamp' as she called it. On the table were also two empty teacups, and one that still had some cinnamon flavored coco in it. Books were piled high, everything from Peter Pan to Anne Frank to Science and Self-Care. Her android phone was placed on the floor below the table so it 'wouldn't take up so much space'. Jewelry was also one of those things that she seemed to have everywhere. Necklaces and bracelets and rings and anklets. Everywhere.

"Jules' wedding" he answered. His eyes reached the collage she had but up above their bed. Pictures of them, of her family, of his friends, of her friends, of Baxter and she even insisted on having one of Merle.

"That was a good day wasn't it?" she said, her eyes closing again as she stretched. "Are you bringing Baxter on the trip with…. who's even going?" She questioned finally awake enough to hold a proper conversation.

"Yeah, I'm bringing him. An' I think it's jus' P.J, Clyde an' Luke. You inviting Koi and Celti to stay while I'm gone right?" Daryl explained, throwing the last part in to sooth his own worries. He didn't like leaving her boyfriend-less and dog-less. Especially since they lived in his part of town. She had given up living all fancy with her family-money. Exchanged it for a mediocre life with him. She always said that no matter how mediocre he thought it was that it would always be her little piece of heaven as long as she had him. Daryl usually don't respond.

"Mhmm" Alma mumbled pushing her lips to his.

And this is how their mornings usually went, because when Daryl wasn't out hunting, he worked construction. And if construction was slow he would do odd jobs as a handyman. Everything he could to pull in some money. In his eyes Alma deserved it all for putting up with him.

Alma worked as a teacher at a nearby school. Some parents had been wary about letting a former 'rich-bitch' take care of their children but in due time everyone loved her. Because of her the kids probably got a better start at life than they would have with the last teachers.

On one summer day Daryl had finally realized that if he didn't take his shot he might lose her. Alma had said that the thought was ridiculous but he couldn't help it, insecurity wasn't new to him. So when they finally reached their five year mark he brought her to Zoo Atlanta again. For the entirety of the day he had been jittery, jumping more than normal at noises that he had learned to be fine with, like speeding cars and children crying. He even jumped when a pigeon flew by.

Alma had an announcement of her own, but she knew he would be scared. And if there was one thing that Alma had tried to do for the duration of their relationship, then it was to protect Daryl. No one else ever did, and she knew that he appreciated that she cared, even when he didn't vocalize that thought.

And because Daryl was nervous, Alma had an internal breakdown. She felt like she maybe had overstepped a boundary during their five years. Maybe she made him uncomfortable. Maybe she should have said something earlier.

"Soooo," Daryl started, stopping in front of the carousel. "we've been pretty serious right?"

"I would think so" she responded, giving him her best smile. It probably looked a bit forced but at least she tried right?

"Well," he looked at the ground, then the stands behind her, and finally he turned to the carousel.

Daryl rubbed his neck and turned back to the petite woman in front of him. At that moment he realized she looked about ready to cry, and he also realized the amount of suspense he was putting her in.

"Shit, no, no, no don't cry damnit" he ushered taking her face in his hands. The rough pads of his thumbs wiped furiously at her cheeks when the tears started cascading. "This ain't how ya brother said it would go!" the mumbling that fell off his lips were probably inaudible to most but she had become quite proficient in the art of the Dixons.

"Why were you speaking to Julian?" she questioned quietly, whipping her own face.

Daryl fumbled for a bit before pulling out an envelope from and giving it so her.

Inside the envelope was a letter:

 _Dear Alma,_

 _How do you start a letter? Maybe with I love you or something. I know I don't say it a lot. And I'm sorry for that._

 _I guess what I'm trying to explain is that if I was reborn again then I would want to find you all over again. I mean you even like Merle for fucks sake, and I'm not even sure Merle likes Merle._

 _And don't get me started on you. Your hair smells like fresh baked cookies all the time. When you're happy your eyes almost sparkle. You may hate that you're small but you are the perfect size for me to rest my arms over your shoulder comfortably._

 _My friends think I'm a pussy for writing you instead of using my own mouth but your mom promised me you would find it romantic._

 _So with all of that in mind I would just like you to be with me, 'cause I'm not sure I remember how to function without you. And I know you don't really need me but I really need you. And I've decided that I'm okay with being selfish when it comes to you. P.J says you shouldn't keep a bird locked in a cage but I thought that maybe if that bird had a friend, or more preferably a husband, she wouldn't feel so closed in?_

 _I guess what I'm asking is would you be okay with marrying me?_

When she had reached the end of the letter she walked into Daryl and squeezed the life out of him, the tears soaked his shirt and Daryl let out a sigh of relief at the sudden contact, happy that he wasn't chasing her away, but tensed a little at the sobs racking her small frame. He slowly rubbed her back, waiting for her so say something, and gradually slipping into breakdown territory at the lack of response.

After several minutes of consoling Alma abruptly pulled away, keeping hand over his ribs and standing at arm length. Looking up at Daryl she said:

"If you're fine with sharing then I'll gladly live happily ever after with you Dar-Bear"

Daryl looked at her like she'd grown about seven heads. His face went from confused to almost understanding and back to confused, the slightly irritated and then finally settling for blank.

"Why'd I wanna share my wife?" he grumbled angrily while giving her an irate look.

Alma let out a sudden laugh, only furthering Daryls frustration. If she was going to laugh at him the he wasn't just going to stand there and take it.

Just as he had turned away, ready to run away from the intense humiliation that overtook him, he felt two arms snake around his waist. And weather he wanted to or nor, he just always kind of melted into her nowadays.

"What?!" he barked out, but the words didn't have any bite behind them.

Alma giggled again before maneuvering herself to stand in front of her hopefully soon-to-be husband. Her arms didn't let him go as she looked up at him, waiting patiently for him to be ready to look at her, for him to be comfortable with her gaze.

It took a good 5 minutes at least but his eyes locked with hers and he gave a small nod as a way of saying 'I am now mentally ready for this'.

"I'm not suggesting a polyamorous relationship Daryl, I know you wouldn't be comfortable with that." she explained calmly. "But you will have to share me, darling."

It was in moments like this that Daryl knew why Mable called her daughter Queenie. She was a calm mediator that always tried keeping her head high.

Daryl had once again accidently gotten lost in her, and he wasn't brought back until she blew some air onto his neck. His eyes locked with hers once again.

"Daryl," she started, the same calm understanding tone lacing his name and making him further relax under her loving gaze. "I'm pregnant."


	4. Chapter 3

Turns out Daryl had to learn how to share Alma quite a lot. Nathaniel Alexander and Noah Davide Dixon were born healthy and soon had a few younger siblings, mostly due to the fact that Merle had pushed the thought of 'ain't no real man using condoms with his own wife' into Daryls head. Alma had used birth control until the twins got a bit older, since they were quite a handful as newborns, and to be honest Daryl probably would rubber up if she asked but she had always wanted a big family and as long as he seemed at ease she didn't see an issue.

When Nate and Noah had turned 3, and Alma had been a Dixon for two years, the third child was born. Rosalie Mable Dixon. 2 years later Atticus Lukas Dixon and lastly one year after that Benjamin Kai Dixon.

Nathaniel was an outgoing person who loved almost everyone, his brown hair messy and blue eyes that rarely stopped sparkling with anticipation at the prospect of an adventure. Noah was less outgoing but just as curious and even though Nate made 99% of the plans to their mischiefs and pranks, the younger twin had never been far behind and always eager to participate.

Rose was a gentle soul when it came to animals and a brute when it came to people. At only three years of age she could sit for ages and pet the family dog. But the second someone took her toys, or spoke over her or even looked at her too long she would shut down and become ever so grumpy. Rosalie also insisted that her brown hair should be tied back at all times, whether it be with braids, piggy tails or a ponytail she didn't care but she didn't want it in her face. Her brown eyes where in a way dull and in another way almost intimidating.

Atticus was a sensitive boy, and picky with almost everything. He didn't do well with angry people and yelling became almost prohibited around him, no matter if the nature of the shouts were good or bad. When Attie became old enough to talk and express himself Daryl got to learn how to semi-gracefully be okay with random 'I love you's and physical affection that didn't come from his wife, and Alma was sure that her more than little awkward husband had come to expect the cheek kisses and many hugs that Atticus delivered. He also, contrary to his siblings, had dirt-blond hair. Alma guessed it was due to the fact that her mother and her maternal grandparents were blond, as well as Daryls mother and maternal grandfather. However, the shiny and glittery brown eyes were much easier to track in their family trees.

Ben was born deaf, and no matter how upsetting it was at the time, everyone was quite happy he was. Deafness was a part of the young boy but I wasn't who he was. Benjamin seldom made any noise, but when he did it was usually to laugh or possibly let out a noise of frustration. At the ripe young age of three he was already way smarter than his siblings had been at that age and also way more observing. Alma used to always tell Daryl that Ben would grow up to work at NASA or even the first deaf president. Benny was also remarkably similar to Rosalie in appearances, easily passing as her younger, male, body double.

(Nate and Noah 9 years old, Rose 6 years old, Attie 4 years old, Ben 3 years old, Alma and Daryl married for 8 years)

Getting a family with 5 children and an overgrown man-child with a phobia of social events ready for Christmas in the nice parts of Atlanta was a challenge. Benny didn't really object all that much, seeing as he liked going to see his grandparents. Rose and Noah were also effortlessly persuaded when Alma had mentioned that they could bring Nanok. But Daryl, Nate and Atticus was on a whole other level. Daryl complained every other minute and Nathaniel idolized his father, obviously doing his best to follow his footsteps. Attie on the other hand had his own motives for not wanting to go, namely the cousins. Julians and Fridas children were lovely at times but they had quite a lot of personality. Personalities that hardly took the feelings of others into consideration, and that made the 4-year-old very uneasy.

And in the midst of all the chaos Alma found herself happy and content with how her life turned out. She liked the bickering and the exhaustion. And she loved that she could look out over her family and see how much they all cared about each other.

And when she looked at her family dynamic no one could have predicted that only 3 years later they would live in a world shattered.

 **This was just supposed to be the filler that moved us from pre-ZA to the start of season 1. I just wanted people to have a basic understanding of their life pre-ZA and I also wanted everyone to have a mental image of their family life/children.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reads this story, I didn't think anyone would seeing as my English isn't the best (I'm Swedish so English is my 2** **nd** **language)**

 **Thank you again and I will try to update this story as often as I can (so at least once a month, but probably more like every other week)**


	5. Chapter 4

**(Nate/Noah (12) Rose (9) Attie (7) Ben (6) if you were wondering)**

Keeping 5 children alive in a post-apocalyptic world may not be the easiest thing Alma had even done. Nathaniel and Noah had really stepped up to the plate when they realized they couldn't stay in the cabin any longer.

Daryl had been adamant about teaching them how to hunt and the only kid who had straight up refused was Atticus. Rosalie wasn't overly happy about killing animals but Daryl had explained that if things ever went down and they couldn't buy enough food, hunting would help them. Alma had gotten very angry at Daryl when she had figured out that certain method of persuasion.

Ben had just recently started his training but it had to be cut short when Daryl went to Georgia. Apparently Merle had gotten himself in trouble again and as always Daryl showed up to fix it. He had taken Nanok with him. The young dogo argentino had been the successor to Baxter after they'd been forced to put him down.

They waited for about two weeks in the cabin, but it got overrun and the family needed to leave. Ben, Rose and Attie had wanted to wait for Daryl but with the help of the twins Alma had been able to get the younger ones into the beat up Impala.

And that is what lead them to the outskirt of central Atlanta. Ben had taken to writing it down, that they should stay in the city that is. He was still sharper than any six-year-old Alma had ever met, even in her occupation as a teacher. In the beginning he would sign that Daryl would find a way to the city and that we couldn't be gone when he did, but after a while he got scared that we weren't listening so he wrote it down about twice a day.

Food had become a luxury Alma couldn't afford, all thing edible went to the children. They all insisted that she could have some of theirs but Alma was fine with eating just enough to stay afloat. She was sure she had seen a building that looked like a mall or something and she wanted to see if they could barricade themselves in there for the night.

Alma gathered up the kids and their belongings, one backpack each and a duffle bag, and moved towards the general direction. A bit ahead of them they could hear some commotion and they stopped short of a tank. It was surrounded by 'the deathly hollows' as Rosalie had named them. Alma tried to maneuver the kids back, they could probably go around this block, only to find more of the hollows behind them. The mother tried to keep all the kids away from them but to no avail. Panic begin to consume her when she truly realized how hopeless this all was.

Like a grace of God himself the tank-lid opened, a sheriff jumping out and killing one of the hollows on the outside. Then he noticed the family.

"Run that way" he yelled motioning towards an alley. And the Dixons didn't need to be told twice.

In the alley they ran into, quite literally, a young Asian man. The twins and Rose immediately took aim, having been thought how to use firearms since the age of five. Behind them Mr. Sheriff ran up, seemingly equally startled by the sudden appearance.

"Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come on! Back here! Come on! Come on!" the Asian man yelled pointing at a ladder before proceeding up on it. When he notices or apprehension he continues, "What are you doing?! Come on! Come on, get up."

When we have all reached the roof we stop and pants for a while.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff, come riding in to clean up the town?" the younger man says, making a sarcastic joke.

"It wasn't my intentions" the older one responses, taking in the situation.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass."

That comment earned him a chuckle from Nate and a quiet giggle from Rosalie.

"Rick and thanks." the sheriff one said, introducing himself.

"My name is Alma, this is Nate, Noah, Rose, Attie and Ben" Alma countered, purposely not using the childrens full names, with the exception of Noah since he didn't really have a nickname. She nervously eyed the edge of the building, not being completely comfortable with heights.

"Glenn," the Asian man responded, "and you're welcome." Then he noticed me inching away from the drop. "The bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy"

"Are you the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick inquired.

"Somebody did" was Glenns answer. "I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through."

"Geeks?" Rose threw in "Is that your word for the deathly hollows?"

"Well now that I now that that's what you call them it doesn't sound as cool" he muttered, giving the family a quick smile.

"Back at the tank," sheriff Rick continued "why'd you stick your neck out for me?"

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me" he shrugged "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

They took another ladder, going down this time. Glenn took out a walkie-talkie.

"I'm back. Got a few guests plus four geeks in the alley" he spoke into it.

The group walked down another staircase to a door where two hollows appear. Two men with protective gear runs out of the door and goes after the dead.

Glenn ushered the others through the door, the two new men following behind.

Inside were two women, Alma thought they both looked kind of uptight so she and the kids stayed by the wall. Suddenly the blonde one pulled a gun on her new-found sheriff friend. Alma felt a need to help, after all he didn't really need to help them back by the tank. So she quickly stepped between Rick and the blonde bitch, shoving her back.

"Back off" she growled standing protectively in front of the grown man.

The trigger-happy blonde was about to reply when a Latino looking man butted in.

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off"

Andrea huffed but backed off and Alma nodded in appreciation and the Latino man quickly smiled before frowning again.

"Yeah," the black woman said "Ease up."

"Ease up?" Andrea repeated, clearly offended "You're kidding right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole!"

Alma shook her head and tuned them out, only sort of listening, returning to do a health check on her kids. She starts to listen again when she hears them mention a refugee center. Jacqui, as the black woman called, were making some sarcastic remark about cookies and once Atticus had signed the comment to Ben the latter let out a chortle.

"Got no signal, maybe the roof?" the one called T-Dog speculated, trying to find some sort of solution.

Suddenly they hear gunshots from above.

"Oh no, is that Dixon?!" Andrea exclaimed. Almas heart jumped at the name and the kids all looked at their mother with hopeful eyes. She made a hand-motion to calm them down, not overly fond of the idea of them getting their hopes up. Dixon wasn't an unusual name after all.

"What is that maniac doing?" Morales questioned rhetorically.

They all ran up to the roof, eager to get the moron up there to shut up. But Alma insisted on staying downstairs with the children, keeping an eye on the hollows.

Atticus were in an ASL-discussion with Benjamin, talking about some books they'd found in the corner. Nathaniel, Rose and Noah were looking at the jewelry and gushing over the fact that it all looked so sparkly and expensive.

After a good while there was a commotion going down the stairs and down to, what Alma guessed was the basement. She paid them no mind, keeping her eyes on the kids. It made her happy that they were still somewhat carefree.

After a few more minutes Andrea comes back to the front, followed by Rick. Alma smiled at him trying to ease the obvious tension in his shoulders by pure willpower. They started talking and Alma heard Rick point out what she had already noticed, that the safety was enabled on Andreas gun.

Andrea moves to where the twins and Rose were still touching the different necklaces and bracelets. She stops and looks at a necklace that had been put on display, it had some sort of pendant on it but Alma couldn't really distinguish it.

When they regrouped on the roof they had apparently come up with a plan to get a truck. Rick had noticed Almas apprehension and told her that her job in the plan was to make sure they had everything they could carry and the kids were ready to go. Andrea scoffs at this, obviously believing the young mother to have gotten off easy.

From the front the Dixon family can hear the group grunt in disgust and Alma mentally thanked the sheriff that she or her kids weren't there to witness the hacking.

When Glenn and Rick had been sent out the group ran back up to the roof to follow them while the kids and Alma packed everything they could in whatever bags they could find.

There is a lot of noise upstairs then they all come running down.

"The roll-up doors!" Morales yells when he runs past the family and Alma hurries everyone along, the same way the group ran. They end up at a loading dock and they throw in the bags that Alma had collected. T-dog manages to jump into the car the second it pulls away and Alma let's out a breath of relief.

In the truck T-dog mutters sadly about dropping a key, but Alma pays it no mind. Her remaining family is fine and they seem to have found a decent group of people. She could hear Glenn shouting in glee outside, accompanied by a loud car-alarm.

Alma takes out her MP3 player and motions for the kids to do the same.

"May we take a nap on our way to the camp, we haven't slept for a while…" she queries, not wanting them to get offended, or presume her lazy.

Morales turns to her and nod, smiling warmly, and Alma finds herself concluding that he is a father. He just seems to have that glint in his eyes.

The group wakes the family up when they're on a gravel road and Alma notices that Benjamin is still sitting where he was before she fell asleep. She makes a mental note to make sure he sleeps tonight.

Alma listens but she can't hear Glenns car anymore so she presumes that they are going to stop any second now. Turns out she was right and everyone jumps out to greet their families and friends. Morales comes back to the truck, coercing them to follow. Or more like telling 'helicopter boy' to come say hi.

"Dad?" she hears someone question, quickly followed by a screech of, "DAD!" Alma gets out just in time to see Rick hugging a young boy about Nate and Noahs age, and a woman. Alma smiled warmly at the scene, happy to see a reunion after all this time of misery. She notices the woman looking at a man with black hair but decides not to stick her nose in something that could be nothing.

Glenn clears his throat and says "This is Alma and her kids." he introduces her, putting a hand on her shoulder and Alma is happy for the moral support.

"Hello everyone!" she says, smiling as brightly as she would have before everything went to shit. The children followed suit smiling and waving. The man with the black hair seemed to assess them but the old man next to the big RV came up to the family, hand extended. Alma gladly took it.

"I'm Dale." the man explained, smiling kindly at her youngsters. They were directed to a spot where they could put up their tent and then they were left to allow them time to get situated.

By the time they were finished it had gotten dark and Alma made the decision to put everyone to sleep. The twins shared a sleeping bag, so did Ben and Rosalie. Atticus being the sensitive one had to share with his mom, but neither of them complained.

Alma found it disturbingly easy to fall asleep, the sound of her kids lowly snoring and the distant sound of chattering made her eyelids heavy and she thankfully welcomed sleep.

The next morning the tent is empty. Alma scrambles to put her clothes on and she stumbles out of the tent. When she sees the kids she visibly relaxes. They are laughing and having fun with the four other kids at camp. Two latinx kids and a girl she didn't recognize. Noah and Nate was in a discussion with the boy that hugged Rick, his son.

"I'm keeping an eye on them" she heard from above. When she looked up her eyes met Dales. "If you wanna sleep for a while longer that is?"

Alma nodded and backed back to the tent, she knew she tended to trust people to easily but even with that in mind she trusted Rick, and Rick let his son stay under Dales supervision. Therefore, it would be alright if she did too.

The next time she woke up there was a ruckus going on in camp. Her kids were back in the tent and she quickly signed to Benny, asking him what was going on.

 _Hollow – in – camp_

That was the answer she got and Alma immediately grabbed her gun and walked toward the opening, ready to investigate.

Once she got to the main part of camp her breath caught in her throat. There was her husband, in the flesh. Then she processed the position he was in when she heard him choke out the sentence:

"Choke hold's illegal!"

Alma cocked her gun, aiming it at the black-haired mans head.

"Let. Him. Go." she growled out between clenched jaws. He looked surprised at loosened his grip on Daryl who jumped to his feet. He looked at her like he'd seen a ghost but before he could even get enough time to process what was happening Alma turned around and glared at Rick. The two former cops seemed dumbfounded and Daryl quickly jumped back into the conversation.

"They locked Merle on the damn roof!" he yelled, lunging again bit he stopped in his tracks when Alma put her hand on his face.

"Please calm down, darling. If you just lash out there will be no proper conversation to have."

Daryl looked at his wife with immense anger, painfully aware of the confused eyes prying into their exchange. He didn't move a muscle, but Alma could see that he would listen to her.

She turned back to Rick and decided to ignore the frazzled look he wore.

"That was Merle on the roof?" she questioned, now feeling extremely bad. Rick and the other man nodded.

"Well," Alma shook her head "Guess you'll just have to go back and get him." she continues, her voice calm but clearly laced with finality. The men seemed dazed, obviously still not fully understanding what was going on.

"He'll show him the way" the woman Rick had hugged said "Won't you?" she persisted looking poignantly at Rick.

He didn't get a chance to respond before loud shouts of 'DAD' came from behind Alma, followed by the five young Dixons almost tackling Daryl to the ground. And if Daryl wasn't, well, Daryl, he would have probably cried. But he visibly forgot the audience when he realized that his kids were fine and that his wife were standing right behind him.

The camp started murmuring, eyes glued to the unusual scene in front of them.

"Wait!" Andrea declared, "You're married to Daryl?!"

Alma couldn't for the life of her understand the confusion and even distain she could read on the blondes face.

"Yeah," she answered slowly "we've been married for 11 years now."

Daryl and the kids had noticed how tense the mother had gotten and stood ready to step in behind her. Nathaniel and Rosalie by their father side while Noah stood behind Benjamin. Atticus was behind Daryl, clutching the hem of his shirt.

Andrea seemed to actually grasp the awkward air and just scoffed before leaving.

"We'll start planning the run" Rick said, excusing himself. After that the crowed slowly dispersed and Daryl pulled Alma into his arms. Kissing her everywhere his lips could find.

He grabbed her face and looked into her eyes before pressing their lips together.

"Where tha fuck you've been woman?" he questioned lovingly against her lips.


End file.
